PROBLEMS OF
iron and steel, machinery of all kinds,
especially agricultural, cars, engines,
and other material for railways, manu
factures of leather-in fact, nearly every
class of manufacture for which we are
seeking a market-enter into and make
up the grand total of the very large and
constantly growing importations. In
British India cotton yarns and cloths,
clothing, machinery, metals, hardware
and cutlery, railway cars and carriages,
engines, and mineral oils form the bulk
of the imports. In the other countries
and islands, whose imports aggregate a
large sum, the class of goods imported
is similar to those already named, and
are almost exclusively of the class for
which our people are seeking a market.
Upon the map now presented are shown
the figures of the commerce of each of
the principal countries of the Orient.
Thus it will be seen that the com
merce, present and prospective, of the
Orient and the United States may prop
erly be termed complemental: the Ori
ent produces the articles which we must
have, and is in many cases the world's
chief producer of those articles, while
on the other hand it demands, in ever
increasing quantities, the articles which
we produce and desire to sell.
Having thus shown that the Orient
produces the world's chief supply of
the articles which we must always im
port, and that its chief importations are
of articles which we desire to export,
I propose to consider the share which
we now have in supplying those arti
cles and whether we are succeeding in
the attempt to compete with other na
tions for that trade.
This may be fairly tested by taking
the total imports of those countries at
decennial periods and learning the share
of those imports which were drawn from
the United States and the share drawn
from our chief rival for that trade-the
United Kingdom. I have chosen for
the first measurement of that commerce
the year 1868, because it immediately
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preceded the opening of the Suez canal,
which occurred in 1869, and by com
paring the commerce of that year with
that of later dates we may at the same
time determine, in some degree, the
effect of that artificial waterway upon
commerce with the Orient.
In this calculation I have included
the commerce of that great semicircle
of countries having the Philippines as
a central point-China, Japan, Korea,
Hongkong, French East Indies, Siam,
the Straits Settlements, India and Cey
lon, British Australasia, the Dutch East
Indies, and the Philippine and Hawaiian
Islands-their total population being
about half that of the entire globe. I
find that the imports of those countries
which were, in round terms, 575 millions
in 1868, increased to 760 millions by
1880, to 1,025 millions in 1890, and
1,260 millions in 1900, while their ex
ports grew from 588 millions in 1868 to
1,275 millions in 19oo, their total com
merce having thus considerably more
than doubled since the opening of the
Suez canal. But this is not all. In
this great increase of commercial activ
ity in the Orient, this " awakening of
the East," the United States, although
at a disadvantage from lack of direct
water communication, has made phe
nomenal gains. In 1868 the countries
which I have named took less than
$8,000,000 worth of their imports from
the United States, or less than 2 per
cent of the grand total of their imports.
By 1880 they had increased that sum
to over 30 millions ; in 1890 it was more
than 60 millions, and in 1900 over 1o
millions, or about 14 times as much as
in 1868, and forming io per cent of the
grand total of their imports, instead of
2 per cent, as in 1868. At the same time
we dealt generously with them in our
purchases of their raw silks, and teas,
and rice, and sugar, and tobacco, and
spices ; and their exports to the United
States grew from 22 millions in 1868 to
162 millions in 1900. Meantime their